255:, combined with the seizure of one of the team's assets, days before the season was to begin led the league to postpone, then ultimately cancel the season and cease operations. The federal court judgement found the NFL guilty of violating antitrust guidelines on July 29, 1986, but the USFL was only awarded $ 1 (eventually raised to $ 3.76 through automatic trebling and compound interest, though the league never claimed the money) in damages plus court costs, as the jury found that the actions of the USFL owners had done as much in detriment to themselves as did the actions of the NFL. On August 4, the 1986 season was canceled. On August 7, all players were released from their contracts.
29:
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in the 1990s, was launching just as the USFL had planned to move to fall. For reasons unknown—possibilities include Fox's status as a network still in its infancy and the network's desire to limit the amount of programming it carried to avoid regulations—neither the USFL nor Fox pursued a partnership
412:
had stayed on as investors in the merged team. Eventually, the league found an ownership group willing to take
Bassett's place: Lee Scarfone and Tony Cunningham agreed to field the Tampa Bay Bandits in the USFL for the fall 1986 season. However, it soon became known that Scarfone and Cunningham had
642:
before the USFL season was postponed. The 1986 draft was complicated by the fact that a number of teams had traded draft picks to and from teams that had folded; under the draft rules for 1986, all teams, defunct or not, were included, and any draft pick that was held by a defunct team (either by
591:
effectively ended their careers after the USFL ceased operations (Kush's personal services contract meant he would never have to work again; Rodgers would briefly return to coaching in 1995, while
Michaels claimed he was blacklisted by the NFL in his efforts to find paying work afterward). Corso
251:. Plans and a schedule had been set for a 1986 season, which (unlike the previous three seasons, which were played in spring) would have played in the autumn and winter months, but the failure to secure a large judgment or concessions through a landmark antitrust lawsuit against the
399:
in the fall and had planned to pull the
Bandits out of the league to start a spring circuit of his own, which at one point—possibly due to delirium brought on by brain cancer—Bassett had proposed as a multiple-sport league. Bassett had begun merger discussions with the
643:
trade or original award) was skipped over. (For example, the
Bandits traded away their first round draft pick to the Denver Gold; as the Gold had pulled out of the league by 1986, and they held that pick, it was skipped over, even though the Bandits still existed.)
436:
The loss of the
Western Conference required a realignment of the league's (ostensibly) eight remaining teams. The three Florida teams would have joined Arizona as the "Independence Division", while the "Liberty Division" would comprise the four other teams.
408:(Renegades owner Donald Dizney had previously been a minority owner of the Bandits) to create a statewide Florida franchise, but Dizney rejected the proposal out of loyalty to Orlando and Bulls owner Fred Bullard was only interested if Bassett, Arky and
686:
Five teams would have made the playoffs, with a single play-in game to be held the weekend of
January 17–18, two semifinals on January 25 and 26, and the league championship on February 1; the fourth USFL Championship Game was to be hosted at the
716:
The league had no over-the-air national broadcast partner for the 1986 season, a condition the league blamed on NFL coercion. One of the USFL's major points of contention in its antitrust lawsuit was that the NFL had allegedly conspired with the
562:
The sudden cancellation of the 1986 season left the league's coaches out of work. While players were able to sign with other teams fairly quickly, other leagues' teams had already set their coaching staffs, meaning that Pardee, Orlando's
432:
when it was revealed that most of ESM's money had been deposited in that bank, wiping out most of Warner's net worth. The team's limited partners, along with a bailout from the city of
Birmingham, kept the team afloat during 1985.
721:
to place the NFL on all three networks, preventing any competitor from gaining a contract. The jury rejected this claim. (The league, despite lack of support from the Big Three, nevertheless would have had options. The
767:
were by this point owned by the same company and ABC had carried games the previous three years, ABC declined to carry games in 1986; USFL games had faced declining ratings and ABC also held contracts with all of the
424:' existence. Arky's father-in-law Marvin Warner had owned the Stallions, and the sequence of events that led to Arky's suicide, the exposure of securities fraud at Arky's company ESM Government Securities, sparked a
662:
The USFL planned to play its games on
Saturdays and Sunday nights, with a weekly Thursday night game beginning in Week 3. The season was to last eighteen weeks, beginning Saturday, September 13, with no
413:
gone into significant debt to buy out
Bassett's rights and were left bankrupt when, on August 4, 1986, a judge ordered the seizure of all of the team's assets to cover the contract of
763:; with more college football telecasts available in the mid-1980s, the USFL was facing an increasingly crowded market for televised football (part of the reason why, though ESPN and
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575:, it would be too late: by the time he returned to coaching as an NFL assistant in 1987, he had developed terminal cancer. Davis would find work as a consultant with the startup
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675:, imposing on a holiday the NFL had almost completely avoided (with the exception of two playoff games in 1971) up to that point. The league avoided competing with the
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364:, was originally to begin play in the fall 1986 season; for reasons unknown, Chicago was left off the 1986 schedule. As the Chicago team would not have had access to
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395:, who died in May 1986; even if Bassett had been well enough to continue in the league, he was an outspoken opponent of sharing a market with the NFL's
85:
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554:, who coached Houston in 1985, was set to take over the New Jersey Generals as part of the merger between the teams. New Jersey's previous coach,
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to continue coverage had they chosen to do so.) Another factor in the league's inability to secure a broadcast contract in the autumn was the
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in 1988 before that league also folded before beginning play, after which joined the NFL as an assistant later that fall. Michaels, Memphis's
540:, who coached Denver in 1984, was set to take over the Jacksonville Bulls as part of the merger between the teams. The Bulls' previous coach,
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391:. The Bandits were in ownership turmoil as the result of co-owner Stephen Arky's 1985 suicide and the terminal illness of majority owner
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by scheduling its games for the first week of
January for Friday through Sunday, January 2–4. The season would end January 11.
1148:
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667:. A single Tuesday night game was scheduled for October 28, with New Jersey playing at Jacksonville. The league scheduled a
320:, merging the Gamblers with the Generals (with the Gamblers' previous owner retained as team president), and Generals owner
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602:, whose rights were still under contract to the suspended Chicago team, would find work during the 1986 season: after the
248:
747:, an experienced sports syndicator; the USFL could have also relied on its local broadcast partners, many of which were
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482:
932:
Anonymous, "A merger of USFL teams in Jacksonville, Orlando and...," upi.com, July 6, 1985. Retrieved December 15, 2018
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By 1987, the NFL and ESPN had reached an agreement to expand into the time slot that the USFL had planned to use, when
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Six of the seven teams in the Western Conference dropped out of play after the 1985 season, leaving only the
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was held May 6, 1986; as in 1983 and 1985, the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City hosted the draft. The
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614:), the team hired Levy midseason. Levy would remain with the Bills for the next 12 seasons.
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USFL: 'We will not give up';NEWLN:Pro football: Despite Setbacks, USFL Plans Return in 1987
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with each other until 36 years later, when Fox claimed the abandoned USFL trademarks for
268:. In contrast, all seven teams from the Eastern Conference were slated to return intact.
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to carry a game of the week during the regular season and the entirety of the playoffs.
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530:. Baltimore had not named a head coach at the time the season was suspended; however,
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buying out Ross's stake after Ross raised concerns about the Generals' debt load.
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team, as the first overall pick; Haight would instead sign with the NFL's
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921:"Bassett will pull Bandits out of USFL" - St. Pete Times: April 30, 1985
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Three teams would have entered the 1986 season with new head coaches.
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in a complicated series of transactions that had the Gamblers sold to
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would move to broadcasting, beginning a long career working for
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was rumored to be the leading candidate for the open position.
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would have to wait until 1987 to find work. For Birmingham's
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all pulled out of competition, citing financial problems.
279:, abandoned the team partway through the previous season.
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in Baltimore, after playing the previous season at the
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The USFL secured a television contract extension with
558:, never coached football in the United States again.
376:, a stadium that had not hosted football since 1958.
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Bandits lose possessions after bizarre legal action
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387:A major point of uncertainty was the case of the
1011:. Associated Press. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
896:"By its own hand, USFL will fall into oblivion"
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998:(August 5, 1986). Retrieved January 23, 2016.
417:, a safety Bassett had signed in early 1985.
8:
943:Lakeland Ledger – Google News Archive Search
845:The United States Football League, 1982-1986
726:, which would eventually rise to become the
610:(who himself had been under contract to the
372:, the team would have likely had to move to
368:and because Einhorn was a part-owner of the
987:
985:
870:
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705:United States Football League on television
360:and a replacement for the widely unpopular
1051:
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751:not beholden to the NFL or Big Three, and
39:September 13, 1986 – January 11, 1987
974:Miami Lawyer Kills Himself in Wake of ESM
247:would have been the fourth season of the
955:Death of the Bandits not a pretty sight
801:
1009:Jacksonville will host USFL title game
992:ESPN, minus USFL, has 66 hours to fill
671:and also planned a full slate of four
18:
1398:United States Football League seasons
1165:Washington Federals/Orlando Renegades
743:. Einhorn also had access to his own
579:in 1986 and 1987, then jumped to the
7:
1371:United States Football League (2022)
1093:Boston/New Orleans/Portland Breakers
808:Eskenazi, Gerald (August 5, 1986). "
810:U.S.F.L. Calls Off 1986 Fall Season
420:Arky's suicide also threatened the
69:
64:
770:major college football conferences
14:
204:
124:
108:
972:Cosco, Joseph (July 24, 1985). "
963:, Lakeland, Florida, 1986-08-05.
894:Mizell, Hubert (30 April 1985).
825:Dunham, Will (August 9, 1986). "
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634:, an offensive tackle from the
596:as a college football analyst.
349:due to conflicts with baseball.
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757:court-ordered decentralization
1:
1060:United States Football League
719:Big Three television networks
329:Stephen Ross then bought the
249:United States Football League
172:
140:
1149:Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars
884:, 1986-08-05. pp. 1C and 6C.
650:was held April 23, 1986. No
581:World Indoor Football League
648:1986 USFL territorial draft
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778:ESPN Sunday Night Football
761:college football telecasts
702:
1393:1986 in American football
669:game for Thanksgiving Day
548:as offensive coordinator.
544:, left to join the NFL's
526:had taken over the NFL's
522:Baltimore's former coach
352:A franchise representing
70:
26:
1197:Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws
753:regional sports networks
383:were slated to be added.
312:assets were sold to the
275:folded after its owner,
253:National Football League
1213:San Antonio Gunslingers
849:McFarland & Company
430:Home State Savings Bank
273:San Antonio Gunslingers
745:TVS Television Network
636:Iowa Hawkeyes football
339:University of Maryland
333:, who were to move to
843:Reeths, Paul (2017).
693:Jacksonville, Florida
577:Arena Football League
447:Independence Division
60:Jacksonville, Florida
1085:Birmingham Stallions
996:St. Petersburg Times
994:. Associated Press,
953:Allen, Diane Lacey.
900:St. Petersburg Times
881:St. Petersburg Times
749:independent stations
728:fourth major network
488:Birmingham Stallions
422:Birmingham Stallions
221:class=notpageimage|
1364:Television coverage
1133:New Jersey Generals
1117:Los Angeles Express
498:New Jersey Generals
314:New Jersey Generals
292:Los Angeles Express
1205:Pittsburgh Maulers
1181:Jacksonville Bulls
1024:1986 USFL schedule
814:The New York Times
689:Gator Bowl Stadium
673:games on Christmas
612:Pittsburgh Maulers
528:New Orleans Saints
514:Head coach changes
457:Jacksonville Bulls
402:Jacksonville Bulls
303:Jacksonville Bulls
1380:
1379:
1189:Memphis Showboats
1157:Tampa Bay Bandits
1125:Michigan Panthers
1077:Arizona Wranglers
739:that launched in
732:buying NFL rights
628:Orlando Renegades
510:
509:
493:Memphis Showboats
467:Tampa Bay Bandits
462:Orlando Renegades
406:Orlando Renegades
389:Tampa Bay Bandits
370:Chicago White Sox
356:, to be owned by
290:and league-owned
288:Portland Breakers
259:Franchise changes
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681:college football
658:Season structure
567:and Tampa Bay's
546:Cleveland Browns
478:Liberty Division
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310:Houston Gamblers
284:Oakland Invaders
245:1986 USFL season
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652:dispersal draft
624:1986 USFL draft
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532:Ted Marchibroda
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483:Baltimore Stars
452:Arizona Outlaws
393:John F. Bassett
381:expansion teams
331:Baltimore Stars
318:Stephen M. Ross
266:Arizona Outlaws
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52:Finals venue
1309:Territorial
1255:(cancelled)
1109:Denver Gold
724:Fox network
632:Mike Haight
552:Jack Pardee
538:Mouse Davis
299:Denver Gold
1387:Categories
1272:Collegiate
960:The Ledger
858:1476667446
797:References
677:bowl games
589:Frank Kush
415:Bret Clark
397:Buccaneers
56:Gator Bowl
1215:(1984–85)
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1079:(1983–84)
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665:bye weeks
630:selected
600:Marv Levy
565:Lee Corso
212:Renegades
132:Showboats
116:Stallions
785:See also
524:Jim Mora
426:bank run
100:Generals
36:Duration
1349:Related
1224:Seasons
906:1 March
354:Chicago
237:Liberty
196:Outlaws
164:Bandits
72:←
66:Seasons
1264:Drafts
1207:(1984)
855:
730:after
606:fired
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1068:Teams
618:Draft
180:Bulls
148:Stars
1337:1986
1330:1985
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1279:1983
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1232:1983
908:2014
853:ISBN
741:2022
711:ESPN
646:The
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